Phil Salt and Mitchell Starc made it a Bengali New Year to remember for the Kolkata Knight Riders fans at Eden Gardens, helping the hosts thump Lucknow Super Giants by eight wickets on Sunday. Starc picked up important LSG wickets to finish with 3 for 28, his best figures of the season, while Phil Salt led the charge in the chase with an unbeaten 47-ball 89. KKR now sit second on the points table, having begun a string of five straight home games in fabulous fashion.
Phil Salt struck an unbeaten 89 off 47 balls and was involved in an unbroken 120-run stand with Shreyas Iyer to take KKR over the line with 4.2 overs to spare. Mitchell Starc finally found some success as he spearheaded a clinical bowling display for KKR at Eden Gardens on Sunday (April 14), which was followed by an enterprising knock from Phil Salt as Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first win against Lucknow Super Giants. Starc’s 3 for 28 restricted LSG to 161/7 .
Pitch and Toss
63m and 66m square boundaries while the straight boundary is at 73m. It’s very very hot today, the wicket looks fantastic, it looks good for batting and it should remain consistent. One of the fastest outfields in the country, the batters getting in can definitely cash in. Lots of runs on offer, the batters getting in can enjoy themselves, reckon Samuel Badree and Michael Clarke, in their pitch report.
KKR skipper won the toss and chose to bowl and substituted Rinku Singh for Harshit Rana.
LSG batting first made 3 changes to squad as Deepak Hooda and Mohsin Khan made way into the team while Shamar Joseph received his maiden IPL Cap replacing Naveen Ul Haq. Devdutt Padikkal also missed out citing to poor form.
Wickets corrode LSG’s promising start as Mitchell Starc leads KKR’s bowling charge
A lovely straight drive by Quinton de Kock off Mitchell Starc for a four and KL Rahul’s majestic six over covers off Vaibhav Arora promised a rapid start for LSG. They did manage 49 in the powerplay but weren’t able to quite assert themselves with KKR striking at regular intervals. Vaibhav Arora ended de Kock’s stay, getting him caught at short third man, while LSG’s No.3 struggles continued as Deepak Hooda, who replaced Devdutt Padikkal, got out to Mitchell Starc with Ramandeep Singh taking a good catch at backward point.
Rahul, who had struck at a good rate at the other end, moved into the 30s and put on a steady stand with Ayush Badoni as they took LSG to 72/2 after 10 overs.
After Vaibhav Arora struck early to remove Quinton de Kock, Shreyas gave Starc a third powerplay over in the afternoon heat to find another wicket. He did that when an out-of-form Deepak Hooda sliced him to backward point in the fifth over. Rahul and the No. 4 Ayush Badoni then consolidated to take LSG to 72 for 2 in ten overs, however Rahul’s attempt to up his scoring rate resulted in his dismissal.
Key wickets pull LSG back
Andre Russell’s introduction in the 11th over saw Rahul execute an upper cut for a six but off the very next ball, a flat-batted pull landed in the hands of deep midwicket. Marcus Stoinis and Badoni continued to find the fence, not relenting on the attacking approach. But Stoinis fell to Varun Chakravarthy and Badoni was dismissed by Sunil Narine in his attempt to accelerate, leaving LSG at 113/5 in 15 overs.
KKR restrict LSG to 161 for 7 despite Pooran’s brisk 45
Only five runs came off the 16th over, bowled by Varun, and the onus was on Nicholas Pooran to give LSG a positive finish. He got going with a six off Harshit Rana and followed it up with two maximums off Arora in the 18th over. A couple of fours off Harshit took LSG past 150 in the penultimate over but the bowler mixed it up well to limit the damage. Starc got Pooran to edge a wide delivery off the first ball of the final over and ended the innings with the wicket of Arshad as he completed a good bowling job from KKR.
But while Pooran was around, LSG still had hope, and he offered just that with his 32-ball 45. He went after the inexperienced pair of Harshit Rana and Arora in the death overs, helping LSG score 29 runs off the 18th and 19th overs. However, Starc stopped further damage in the 20th over, when he had Pooran nicking behind off the first ball. That ensured LSG would score only 52 runs off the final six overs, with Starc embellishing his returns with a third wicket off the final delivery of the innings.
KKR positive despite early wickets
It wasn’t the best of starts for IPL debutant Shamar Joseph as he ended up conceding 22 runs – the most expensive opening over of IPL 2024. The first five deliveries weren’t bad as he troubled both Phil Salt and Sunil Narine with his pace despite being hit for a four by the latter. But a drop that happened to be off a no-ball was followed by plenty of extras and a six off the last ball by Phil Salt.
Mohsin Khan became the first bowler to dismiss Narine in the powerplay this season and also bagged the wicket of Angkrish Raghuvanshi. But KKR continued to be atop the list of teams with best powerplay scoring rates this season thanks to regular boundaries from Phil Salt.
Phil Salt fifty keeps KKR on course
Shreyas used the DRS to get a caught-behind decision off Joseph’s bowling reversed and the bowler was unfortunate not to dismiss Phil Salt in the same over as Arshad Khan parried the ball over the fence. Shreyas struggled a bit against pace but he stuck around and assisted Phil Salt as they raised a half-century stand off 36 balls. Arshad was unlucky as a couple of inside edges went to the boundary. Phil Salt got to a 26-ball fifty to help KKR past 100 in the 10th over.
After the game, KL Rahul described the defeat as a “proper hammering”, and the prime reason for that was Salt. Having been dismissed for a duck in Chennai in KKR’s previous game, Phil Salt was very nearly out for a duck again when he clipped debutant Shamar Joseph to short-fine leg. Luckily for Phil Salt, Yash Thakur dropped him and even if he hadn’t, Joseph’s front-foot no-ball would’ve given him a reprieve anyway.
After that let-off, Phil Salt finished the first over with a six down the ground, and then continued to go for it through the powerplay. That helped KKR stay on course even as Sunil Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi fell cheaply. He clubbed Krunal Pandya for a hat-trick of boundaries in the third over and that set up a 58-run powerplay.
On 31, Phil Salt was dropped again at deep-square leg in the seventh over, and it perhaps made him tentative for a couple of overs. But Phil Salt once again found momentum in the tenth over, bowled by Arshad Khan (the bowler paying the price for having dropped him three overs earlier). Phil Salt struck consecutive fours in the tenth to reach his fifty in 26 balls and bring up KKR’s hundred inside ten overs.
Phil Salt blazes KKR past the finish line
Having scored his first 25 runs off 28 balls, Shreyas strike rate went up thanks to his two fours off Joseph, who conceded 14 off his final over to finish with 0 for 47 in his maiden IPL game. Phil Salt then finished it off quickly, hitting three fours off Thakur, a four and a six off Mohsin, and the winning boundary off Ravi Bishnoi as he ended up with 14 fours and three sixes in his whirlwind knock.
Phil Salt then began to apply the finishing touches when he struck Thakur for three fours in the 14th over, followed by a massive six over midwicket off Mohsin in the 15th. His pull for four in the 16th over off a half-tracker from Bishnoi summed up both the KKR batting innings and the LSG bowling performance.
From the other end, Shreyas Iyer made up for a slow start to finish unbeaten for the second time this season. He did not need to take risks, given Salt’s brisk scoring and the two early wickets.
He played aggressive shots only as the target got closer. He struck Ravi Bishnoi and Arshad for boundaries through the middle overs to move from 6 off 12 to finish unbeaten on 38 off 38. He was particularly strong off his hips as the LSG pacers erred by bowling too many times on a leg-stump line. His unbroken partnership of 120 with Salt was the highest third-wicket stand for KKR in the IPL.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
KL Rahul the loosing skipper said : One of those days, it was a proper hammering. Games like these are tough to digest and we have seen in IPL and every team goes through that. We will try and work out what went wrong and come back better. The ball started nipping around a lot more in the second innings, the shots that we played in the first innings, didn’t execute well and kept losing wickets in bunches and we could have got a lot more runs and that’s where we missed and lost the game.
He (Shamar Joseph) is bowling pretty quick, Shamar was very excited and wanted to bowl fast, sprayed it around a little bit but that happens when you are playing your first game in the IPL.
He needs to work on consistency in line and length, obviously got the ball to swing and seam around in the powerplay. Not panicking (about back-to-back losses), need to figure out where we went wrong and the last couple of games we haven’t been able to get past 160 and that’s something we want to see and be better at it.
Shreyas Iyer the winning KKR skipper said : Pretty much comprehensive victory. Fielded well and bowled well. Was important to bowl slower ones as much as possible because of the heat and the wicket becoming dry. We executed phenomenally well. When we got wickets, it gave us the advantage to come in and put an attacking effort. Character and attitude bowlers showed was exceptional.
Will keep reiterating that it’s a funny tournament and have to stay in the present as much as possible. Have to seize the moment and not leave it on someone else.
Phil Salt the Player of the Match for his 89 runs said : Said to Swanny before the game, I felt I was melting. Good to get another win home. Before the lights came on, it was a bit slower. After lights came on, there was some moisture and it quickened up. I’ve loved it (his time here). Got some great overseas players, some great coaches. GG is back in the fold which is great. Not much running today (his boundary hitting).
A blistering knock from Phil Salt takes KKR to a comprehensive win at Eden Gardens. The target was below par as it is, and he made sure LSG had no chance of defending it. The bowling was mostly wayward from the visitors, except Mohsin Khan, and Salt took proper toll. In contrast, KKR were right on the money earlier in the afternoon.
Mitchell Starc was good with new ball, and also at the death, while Sunil Narine bowled another brilliant spell of 1/17, building up so much pressure on a timid LSG lineup. The pitch was on the slower side in the afternoon, but there wasn’t enough intent to score quickly either, again leaving Pooran with too much to do. He tried but they were still plenty short on that wicket which got better to bat on under lights.
This is the first win for KKR against LSG in four IPL matches. The three previous encounters between these sides had been won by the side batting first. This is also the sixth consecutive victory for the chasing team in a day game at Eden Gardens.
It was a good toss to win for KKR, with the pitch playing better under lights than it did in the afternoon as Salt admitted there. Still, LSG weren’t good enough with the bat. Their middle order, with the exception of Pooran, looks very vulnerable and out of touch. Their bowling hasn’t been much better either. As for KKR, they’ve bounced back nicely after the defeat at Chepauk to make it four wins in five games.
KKR have just a day’s break before their next game at home against Rajasthan Royals. LSG, meanwhile, have a four-day break before their match against Chennai Super Kings at the Ekana stadium.